Washington, D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, commented on the resignation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz in the wake of the release of a video in which Armendariz is caught on tape admitting that EPA's "general philosophy" is to "crucify" and "make examples" of oil and gas companies so that others are "really easy to manage."

"After his revelation that EPA's 'general philosophy' is to 'crucify' oil and gas companies, it was only right for Administrator Armendariz to resign today - but his resignation in no way solves the problem of President Obama and his EPA's crucifixion philosophy," Senator Inhofe said. "In his letter to Administrator Jackson, Armendariz again pointed to his 'poor choice of words' as the reason for his resignation - but Armendariz was just being honest: his choice of words revealed the truth about the war that EPA has been waging on American energy producers under President Obama.

"We will continue our investigation into the situations surrounding EPA's apparent crucifixion victims: the American people deserve to know why, in at least three separate cases, EPA tarnished the reputation of companies by accusing them of water contamination; then when the results of their study did not turn out the way they hoped, and they had no definitive evidence to make that link, they quietly walked back their accusations. We will get to the bottom of this - and we will continue looking into EPA's actions on hydraulic fracturing beyond these three cases as well.

"Especially as Region VI holds some of the most immense oil and gas resources in the country - including in my home state of Oklahoma - I will be watching who President Obama appoints to replace Armendariz very closely."